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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't typically reach for books set in WWII anymore just because I think they do get repetitive but this was so stunningly written from the perspective of children and animals. I also enjoyed reading from the perspective of Roma people which might be something I look out for in the future now.
The ending??? So heart wrenching and shattered my soul into a million pieces. Sigh.
The ending??? So heart wrenching and shattered my soul into a million pieces. Sigh.
After Andrej, 12, his brother Tomas, 9, and baby sister Wilma escape the carnage that soldiers have wrought upon their parents and other members of their Romany caravan, they wander by night in search of food and other necessities, always fearing and avoiding the Leader's soldiers. One night, they wander into a village that has been totally demolished by bombs. Going through the rubble, looking for anything useful in the ashy remnants, they discover that the village zoo is still intact and decide it is a safe place to stop. It is the one place that is still intact, complete with soft, grassy lawn.
Curiosity gets the best of the boys and as they go from cage to cage, they discover the ten animals - a wolf, a lioness, a monkey, a seal, a kangaroo, an eagle, a chamois, a bear, a llama and a boar - are still alive, though they are a neglected, starving menagerie. But while they are exploring, planes flying overhead begin to drop bombs on the already ruined village once again.
And when the planes leave, to be amazement of the boys, the animals start talking. As night unfolds, they tell the two boys about the zoo, the zookeeper and his daughter, Alice. Alice loved and cared for the animals but when the Leader's soldiers invaded their country, Alice became a resistance fighter. Within the safety of the zoo, she and the other resistance fighters planned a way to sabotage an enemy train. The sabotage was successful, but the Leader became very angry and took revenge on the village, continually bombing it even though nothing is left but the zoo. Alice had to go into hiding in the mountains, but promised the animals that she would return.
As night wears on, each of the animals tell the boys how they came to be caged in the zoo. And the boys share their story with the animals. Each story is different, but each shares a common thread - loss of family, loss of freedom. I don't want to go into detail about their individual stories, because I think would spoil it for any future readers. They should be read not synopsized.
The novel is always referred to as a WW2 story and it certainly sounds like one. Hartnett has said that she really hates the idea of having to tell the reader "everything in clunking detail," but it is easy enough to flush out details that correspond to events in the novel. The reference to the Leader reminds us that Hitler was also called der Führer (the leader). The fact that the boys are Romany places the novel in Eastern Europe, and the invaders remind us of the German soldiers who invaded Czechoslovakia. When Alice and her friends sabotage the enemy train, a close friend of the Leader is killed, a parallel of the killing of Hitler's friend and Gestapo head Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. Angered and wanting revenge, Hitler ordered the massacre of Lidice.
I think that Hartnett deliberately kept these facts and events vague for two other reasons. First, she may have wanted this to be an ageless fable, not one that only relates to WW2, but to all conflicts. And second, because, as she said in an interview, she wants the reader to be "...part of the experience that is a book, and I like the reader to have some input into the creation of the work - to decide what happens in the end, if need be."
This second reason may be why there are so many mixed reactions to The Midnight Zoo. The story just doesn't have a tidy ending. But there is a tidy ending - the children and the animals find the elusive freedom they crave. How they find it isn't so tidy and depends on how you read some of Hartnetts's hints (my interpretation is below)
The Midnight Zoo is one of the most lyrically written books I have ever read. Hartnett masterfully combines realism , magical realism and personification to create an almost dream-like fable reminding us of the destructive nature of war. Accompanying the text are soft, almost ethereal black and white illustrations by Andrea Offermann at the beginning of each chapter, and the full color cover illustration.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+ but I would age it at 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library
**Not really a Spoiler, but my interpretation of the ending**
Hartnett does not spare the reader any of the horrors of war in her descriptions. Knowing this, when I came to the end of the novel, I didn't not see it as hopeful or life affirming. At the end, when the figure of a woman in a dark cape appears, the children and animals see who they want to see, someone they believe will take care of them. For Tomas, she is his mother, for Andrej, she is Saint Sarah, patron saint of the Romany; for the animals, she is Alice. And when I thought back on the sentence "They had journeyed to the final edge of life beyond which there were no walls,"(pg 214) my initial reaction was that the planes had returned with their bombs and it was the moment of death when the woman called the children come and eagle prepares to fly, but it was also the moment when they have found true freedom in death.
This review was originally posted at The Children's War
Curiosity gets the best of the boys and as they go from cage to cage, they discover the ten animals - a wolf, a lioness, a monkey, a seal, a kangaroo, an eagle, a chamois, a bear, a llama and a boar - are still alive, though they are a neglected, starving menagerie. But while they are exploring, planes flying overhead begin to drop bombs on the already ruined village once again.
And when the planes leave, to be amazement of the boys, the animals start talking. As night unfolds, they tell the two boys about the zoo, the zookeeper and his daughter, Alice. Alice loved and cared for the animals but when the Leader's soldiers invaded their country, Alice became a resistance fighter. Within the safety of the zoo, she and the other resistance fighters planned a way to sabotage an enemy train. The sabotage was successful, but the Leader became very angry and took revenge on the village, continually bombing it even though nothing is left but the zoo. Alice had to go into hiding in the mountains, but promised the animals that she would return.
As night wears on, each of the animals tell the boys how they came to be caged in the zoo. And the boys share their story with the animals. Each story is different, but each shares a common thread - loss of family, loss of freedom. I don't want to go into detail about their individual stories, because I think would spoil it for any future readers. They should be read not synopsized.
The novel is always referred to as a WW2 story and it certainly sounds like one. Hartnett has said that she really hates the idea of having to tell the reader "everything in clunking detail," but it is easy enough to flush out details that correspond to events in the novel. The reference to the Leader reminds us that Hitler was also called der Führer (the leader). The fact that the boys are Romany places the novel in Eastern Europe, and the invaders remind us of the German soldiers who invaded Czechoslovakia. When Alice and her friends sabotage the enemy train, a close friend of the Leader is killed, a parallel of the killing of Hitler's friend and Gestapo head Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in 1942. Angered and wanting revenge, Hitler ordered the massacre of Lidice.
I think that Hartnett deliberately kept these facts and events vague for two other reasons. First, she may have wanted this to be an ageless fable, not one that only relates to WW2, but to all conflicts. And second, because, as she said in an interview, she wants the reader to be "...part of the experience that is a book, and I like the reader to have some input into the creation of the work - to decide what happens in the end, if need be."
This second reason may be why there are so many mixed reactions to The Midnight Zoo. The story just doesn't have a tidy ending. But there is a tidy ending - the children and the animals find the elusive freedom they crave. How they find it isn't so tidy and depends on how you read some of Hartnetts's hints (my interpretation is below)
The Midnight Zoo is one of the most lyrically written books I have ever read. Hartnett masterfully combines realism , magical realism and personification to create an almost dream-like fable reminding us of the destructive nature of war. Accompanying the text are soft, almost ethereal black and white illustrations by Andrea Offermann at the beginning of each chapter, and the full color cover illustration.
This book is recommended for readers age 10+ but I would age it at 12+
This book was purchased for my personal library
**Not really a Spoiler, but my interpretation of the ending**
Hartnett does not spare the reader any of the horrors of war in her descriptions. Knowing this, when I came to the end of the novel, I didn't not see it as hopeful or life affirming. At the end, when the figure of a woman in a dark cape appears, the children and animals see who they want to see, someone they believe will take care of them. For Tomas, she is his mother, for Andrej, she is Saint Sarah, patron saint of the Romany; for the animals, she is Alice. And when I thought back on the sentence "They had journeyed to the final edge of life beyond which there were no walls,"(pg 214) my initial reaction was that the planes had returned with their bombs and it was the moment of death when the woman called the children come and eagle prepares to fly, but it was also the moment when they have found true freedom in death.
This review was originally posted at The Children's War
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I liked the idea of the book. But I didn't find it all that interesting and those animals talk a LOT! Very descriptive.
3.5 stars. I absolutely adored this book, it combines two of my favourite genres - historical fiction and fantasy. While the story broke my heart, it was also uplifting. The midnight zoo reminded me of The boy in striped pajamas and Life of Pi. Sonya Hartnett's writing has a magical and dreamlike quality to it, and I can't wait to read her other stories. "In the clouds above the village, the legendary black-cad horseman who is Night noticed the silence and reined in his steed, which is also black as coal. Taking his vast and circular lantern, the moon, Night brushed aside a constellation of stars and came closer, curious to discover why no bell klonged, no creauture paused, and no newborn baby, woken by midnight's arrival, opened its pink mouth and wailed."
Questo libro mi ha spaccato il cuore e poi l'ha riaggiustato. E' un gioiello, una perla, una meraviglia. E' un romanzo senza età, ma credo che letto a 10/11 anni dia il meglio di sé e resti nell'anima per la vita. L'ho divorato in poche ore, ma non avrei più voluto lasciare Andrej e Tomas, troppo piccoli per tutto quello che hanno dovuto affrontare, e gli animali dello zoo, vittime anche loro della stupidità, dell'arroganza e dell'egoismo umano.
all right, a nice story but it doesn't deserve to be on the carnegie.
“No bird in a cage ever speaks. What is there to say? The sky is everywhere, churning above its head, blue and endless, calling out to it. But the caged bird can’t answer anything except I cannot”
I think I read this book all wrong.
I think I was reading too much into it or, as the case probably is, not into it enough.
I’ll start with the things I didn’t like because I’m the kind of girl who likes to get the bad news first so it’s out of the way and I can be consoled and wrap myself in the fuzzy warmth of the good news.
Firstly, I was expecting this to be a more… definite.
Don’t get me wrong: It is about the war and it was really interesting the read about the persecution of Romani gypsies at the hands of the Nazis in Eastern Europe. I can’t think of any other books that I’ve read, and certainly not young adult ones, that focus on this subject.
But it was about the war in extremely abstract terms. Soldiers, tanks, bombs and weapons are all mentioned but almost in passing and in conversation between the animals. Yes. The talking animals.
So, I’m not sure whether that was just me and my expectations but yeah… so that was my main problem. I wonder how I would have felt about reading this if I hadn’t read so many books about WW2 in succession?
Oh well, we’ll never know.
It was also extremely short and I would have loved to have spent more time on Andrej and Tomas’ journey as opposed to the head-scratching conversations with the animals.
Anyway, now to the good parts.
Wow, Ms Hartnett can write.
Holy guacamole! There was a point, as my hand started to get cramp, whether I seriously considered just forgetting writing down my favourite passages and just photocopying it to stick in my notebook.
It read like a fairy tale… like a true fairy tale. Dark, frightening, thought-provoking and with wisps of magic snaking through the prose.
This is how writing should be all the time.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE, AUTHORS.
Here are a few of my favourite parts:
I also loved the relationship between Andrej and Tomas. I love stories that focus on siblings (I have two and they’re both a huge part of my life!) rather than a romantic element because I always think that romance is easy (or at least it’s easier) to write.
Relationships between siblings are much more complex, there’s always love but there isn’t always like. Ms Hartnett created such a pure and wonderful relationship between these boys (and let’s not forget Wilma!).
And the illustrations?
Yes.
They were so gorgeous. My favourite was the one where the boys first see the wolf standing in his enclosure in the moonlight. They were extremely striking, simple but effective.
So even though this book was a little disappointing, I still liked it and I have on good authority (From the lovely Nomes at Inkcrush!) that her other books are fantastic and I hope to get around to reading them soon.
I think I read this book all wrong.
I think I was reading too much into it or, as the case probably is, not into it enough.
I’ll start with the things I didn’t like because I’m the kind of girl who likes to get the bad news first so it’s out of the way and I can be consoled and wrap myself in the fuzzy warmth of the good news.
Firstly, I was expecting this to be a more… definite.
Don’t get me wrong: It is about the war and it was really interesting the read about the persecution of Romani gypsies at the hands of the Nazis in Eastern Europe. I can’t think of any other books that I’ve read, and certainly not young adult ones, that focus on this subject.
But it was about the war in extremely abstract terms. Soldiers, tanks, bombs and weapons are all mentioned but almost in passing and in conversation between the animals. Yes. The talking animals.
So, I’m not sure whether that was just me and my expectations but yeah… so that was my main problem. I wonder how I would have felt about reading this if I hadn’t read so many books about WW2 in succession?
Oh well, we’ll never know.
It was also extremely short and I would have loved to have spent more time on Andrej and Tomas’ journey as opposed to the head-scratching conversations with the animals.
Anyway, now to the good parts.
Wow, Ms Hartnett can write.
Holy guacamole! There was a point, as my hand started to get cramp, whether I seriously considered just forgetting writing down my favourite passages and just photocopying it to stick in my notebook.
It read like a fairy tale… like a true fairy tale. Dark, frightening, thought-provoking and with wisps of magic snaking through the prose.
This is how writing should be all the time.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE, AUTHORS.
Here are a few of my favourite parts:
“Taking his vast and circular lantern, the moon, Night brushed aside a constellation of stars and came closer, curious to discover why no bell klong.”
“Moonlight lay on Andrej like a fairy’s suit of armour.”
“We are wildcat people, Andrej. You will never have a doormat, but the earth and sky belong to you.”
I also loved the relationship between Andrej and Tomas. I love stories that focus on siblings (I have two and they’re both a huge part of my life!) rather than a romantic element because I always think that romance is easy (or at least it’s easier) to write.
Relationships between siblings are much more complex, there’s always love but there isn’t always like. Ms Hartnett created such a pure and wonderful relationship between these boys (and let’s not forget Wilma!).
And the illustrations?
Yes.
They were so gorgeous. My favourite was the one where the boys first see the wolf standing in his enclosure in the moonlight. They were extremely striking, simple but effective.
So even though this book was a little disappointing, I still liked it and I have on good authority (From the lovely Nomes at Inkcrush!) that her other books are fantastic and I hope to get around to reading them soon.
A sad story that makes you think. Good for 5th and 6th grade.